Durban — People must demand to speak to police station commanders if they do not get assistance from police officers when they report incidents of rape.
This was the advice of Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union provincial secretary Nthabeleng Molefe after she heard about a family that had experienced difficulties in reporting a rape case to Nongoma police.
A 19-year-old man who allegedly sexually abused children between the ages of 4 and 12 in KwaMinyamanzi was charged with rape at Nongoma police station.
A 3-year-old told her grandmother that she did not like the man because he had been touching her private parts.
Ayanda Msweli, of the Ayanda Msweli Foundation, said concerned community members had contacted his foundation in October last year.
Msweli said the family had been reporting the incidents to the police since March last year, but had received no assistance. Msweli met the affected children’s mothers and guardians.
“The suspect was caught trying to pull down the nappy from a small child. When he was confronted, he replied that he was trying to change her nappies,” he said.
He then decided to take the five children whose parents had come forward with claims of sexual abuse to be examined at the local hospital.
Msweli said that when the children were examined, it was discovered that they had been sexually abused.
“After meeting with one of the parents, she had to do a video recording that we used to convince the police about the seriousness of the matter. That is only when they took this issue seriously and opened cases of child sexual abuse,” Msweli said.
The incident has prompted Msweli’s foundation to undertake community awareness around the matter, so that local people know about such issues and are able to deal with them.
Childline KZN acting director Adeshini Naicker said that in light of the extensive education and awareness programmes they conducted, it was heartbreaking to hear that these heinous crimes continued.
“We hope that now that the suspect has been apprehended, a swift and harsh sentence will be meted out. We have recently been applauding SAPS and the justice system, which makes it disappointing to hear that the authorities dragged their feet in taking action in this matter,” she said.
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